Queensland families buck national trend — and love it

Jackie Sinnerton, The Courier-Mail

October 20, 2016 1:00am

QUEENSLAND is the big family state. While Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Australian households have shrunk dramatically in the past 100 years, with 2.6 people now the average, Queenslanders are still hanging on to the packed to the rafters trend.

The number of families with four or more children rose at more than twice the national average between 2006 and 2011 and projections show that, in 2016, there will be 44,541 large families.

Despite research showing a big family dynamic brings the most happiness, the Australian Institute of Family Studies has predicted couples without children will outnumber couples with children by 2030.

Bronwyn Harman, a researcher at Edith Cowan University, said her work highlighted that families with four or more children had the highest level of contentment.

“Generally couples who have big families have always wanted to have lots of kids and they feel they are living their dream. They are happy within themselves,” she said.

“In recent years it has become clear that Australians are more aware that it is relationships with people that brings happiness, rather than material goods.

“I admit, though, it was a lot harder to find big families for our study than other types of families.”

Over five years Dr Harman interviewed hundreds of parents from different family make-ups looking at resilience, social support, self-esteem and life satisfaction.

The last census data shows that, of the 5,584,000 families in Australia, 36.7 per cent were couples with dependent children, compared with 48.4 per cent in 1976.

Narelle and Darren O’Brien, of the Gold Coast, have seven children.

“We love having a full house. There is no doubt it is difficult at times juggling four kids under four, but, all in all, once you hit four kids any more just fit into the routine and it’s not that much harder. The more the merrier,” she said.